Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Foodie Non-Friday: Lemon Blueberry Bread

So I truly don’t know what’s up with all the
cooking (ok, mostly baking) I’vebeen doing lately but aren’t you lovely folks
fortunate to reap the benefits of it?

Well, actually my family is b/c they get to eat
whatever is tasty (it’s not ALL been
tasty…lest I lead you on about my cooking overall).

But you get kitchen-tested, Always Random
Family-approved recipes.

And this lovely little number is no exception.

And you can totally trust us because we have eaten
about 2 loaves of it in the past 24 hours.

Don’t judge.

So I am certain you all are asking: “What prompted
this foray into blueberry bread…because I thought you had an aversion to whole
blueberries in baked goods?”

And yes, you are correct I do have an aversion to
whole blueberries in baked goods. (And
don’t worry…I realize that most of you, perhaps all of you, have no idea what I
am talking about, so I shall explain):

When I was a child, my mother made fresh blueberry
muffins, utilizing fresh blueberries. Well, apparently I could not wait to eat
one and bit into a piping hot blueberry, whose lovely juice burned, dare I say
SCALDED, my tongue.

Totally my fault…I blame my mother not at all.

Now…I know, I know, you are all surely thinking, “Get
over it, Dude!” but I could not completely get past it.

For years, I would only eat those crappy
blueberries muffins which had used dried blueberry powder (or whatever they use)…chopped up bits of blueberry? I don’t even
know, but it was how I got by.

Until yesterday…when I realized that all those
pints of blueberries I bought last summer and diligently washed and froze on
cookie sheets (you know…so they wouldn’t
all stick together in one big pile of mush upon defrost) and then lovingly
collected and placed in baggies…all those blueberries were sitting in the
freezer…mocking me.

I had thought I would make some lovely cobbler or
something like that…but then I remembered that I don’t care much for cobbler.
Or pie…another viable option.

Disgusting, but viable.

So…I Googled “easy blueberry recipes” and much to
my chagrin, the top response was for blueberry bread.

Argh…

But I decided to forge ahead. Conquer my fears. Look at all this growth, right?

I looked at several recipes, but decided on this
one…it had the addition of sour cream or yogurt (which I got to use my crockpot yogurt, so that was kind of fun).

Also, you may be wondering how we have eaten almost
2 loaves…because this recipe only makes one loaf. Clearly, I doubled it…I could
just tell that I would love it and trust my instincts (and also, I seriously have a lot of blueberries to use too).

NOTE: I did not, however, double it when I listed
it below, so you’ll have to do that higher math if you want two loaves.

Please feel free to contact me for assistance with
this; I don’t mean to brag, but I am a trained professional.

So…without further delay, I give you Lemon
Blueberry Bread:

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

½ cup oil (vegetable
or canola)

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup plain yogurt (or
sour cream, or homemade yogurt!)

Juice of 1 lemon (about
3 tablespoons if you have the bottle…I don’t judge that)

NOTE: I also added a tablespoon
of lemon extract, but did NOT use the glaze…I wanted more lemony flavor without
the additional sugar…clearly I’m watching my caloric intake…

Combine the
wet and dry ingredients, just until smooth. Do not overmix or your bread will
come out tough.

Fold the
blueberries into the batter.

Pour batter
into prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes. The bread will be finished
when a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. NOTE: If
bread begins to brown too much on the top, tent with aluminum foil. I used some
foil for the last 15 minutes of baking.

Once bread is
finished, remove from oven and allow to cool for about 15 minutes in the pan. Run
a butter knife around the inside edge of the pan to loosen the bread and then
remove it from the pan; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once bread has
cooled, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice. Start with one
tablespoon of lemon juice and whisk well. If your mixture is too thick, slowly
add up to one more tablespoon of lemon juice. You want the glaze to be thin
enough to drizzle, but thick enough to set up on the bread.

Using a
spoon, drizzle the glaze on top of the bread. The glaze should harden up a
little more after about 15-20 minutes.

Will store in an airtight
container on the counter for up to five days (supposedly, but who would really know...by my estimation it is more like 24 hours on the counter...), or freeze well for up to two
months.

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I will be fostering (hence the blog name…see what I did there? No, not just a clever name b/c I am a foster care advocate; this technique is called a double-entendre…look at me teaching so much already. Perhaps I under-estimated myself and my educational abilities...) the woman I feel God has meant me to be: a writer, a sharer, a story-teller, a friend, a listener, a prayer-warrior and lots of other hopefully-funny, silly, and crazy things.